Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to display technology, and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal lens and a stereoscopic display device including the same.
Discussion
With the development of information hungry society, display devices configured to display information are of interest. For instance, conventional display devices typically include, for instance, liquid crystal display devices, organic electro-luminescence display devices, plasma display devices, field emission display devices, electrophoretic display devices, electrowetting display devices, and the like. Users, however, also desire stereoscopic image presentation. As such, devices to implement stereoscopic imaging are on the rise. For example, liquid crystal lenses have been proposed as a way to implement stereoscopic imaging using conventional display device technology.
A typical liquid crystal lens may include a display area in which an image output from a display device is stereoscopically displayed and a non-display area in which the image is not displayed. To this end, a plurality of lens units may be disposed in the display area. Each lens unit may include a lower substrate on which first and second electrodes are alternately disposed, an upper substrate on which a third electrode is disposed, and a liquid crystal layer formed between the upper and lower substrates.
A plurality of bus (or transmission) lines may be connected to the first and second electrodes of the lens unit and a pad portion connected to a side of the plurality of bus lines to provide a driving voltage to the first and second electrodes may be disposed in the non-display area. In this manner, the pad portion may also provide a driving voltage to the third electrode. If different driving voltages are applied to one or more of the first to third electrodes, an electric field may be formed between the lower and upper substrates in the lens unit. The electric field may be decreased as the electric field approaches an edge of the lens unit. It is noted that liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer may be driven (e.g., oriented) based on the distribution of the electric field. As such, the liquid crystal layer may act as a lens. To this end, the advancing direction of light may be controlled by the lens to display a stereoscopic image.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.